This invention relates to imaging systems for producing simultaneously two different images, such as wide-angle and telephoto images of the region in front of a vehicle.
In order to detect specific conditions and objects along a portion of a road to be traversed by a motor vehicle, it is necessary to use a relatively long focal length lens for proper recognition of obstacles and other objects. On the other hand, to follow the general course of the road and the immediately adjacent surroundings, a comparatively short focal length lens providing a wide viewing angle is required. The simplest solution to this problem would be to provide two separate cameras, one provided with a telephoto lens and the other with a wide-angle lens. Aside from the fact that such an arrangement would be inappropriate for standard equipment in vehicles from the standpoint of space and cost, separate interpreting circuits would also have to be provided to generate two different images.